casts_by_fly

The Amps specified on the chargers are for 12V. You're pulling at 120. So for easy math, take the 12V number of Amps and divide it by 10. Then add up all of the 12V banks. So your buddy has 36 A (assuming he's using it all)and you have another 10. That's 46A at 12V, or 4.6A at 120. You could do that twice over safely without worrying about blowing a breaker. Now that's the charging rate and doesn't count the losses. Looking up your buddys charger, the data sheet says the max amps of VAC 110 is 10A. So if you both plug in your onboard chargers at the same time you might overdraw the circuit. I can't find an easy spec sheet for a 36V lithium charger, but the power draw is going to be comparable to a 3x12V system. So your buddy's charger in a 24A 3 bank pulls 7.5A at the wall. It looks like if you only have one wall outlet to work from, then one of you can charge at a time. https://cxjdfr.files.cmp.optimizely.com/download/assets/ProTournamentelite+Data+Sheet.pdf/6e60d4fa71b811efa8d6d698ae9b14d8

You can if you want. There are a couple options, with this one being the best rated that I could see. $350. I was going to go terrova on my boat in progress but then would have needed this mount. For the extra $350 I just went ultrex. Its 40# heavier and cable steer (with power assist), but if I want to control from the back of the boat I can use the remote. https://www.bassfishinelectronics.com/products/cornfield-fishing-live-view-transducer-mount-terrova-ulterra-power-drive?srsltid=AfmBOora-Otm8xdDYXHe1L_wj8IP_lzSR-f0jyNT9kOTZGTWBkkOC58C

I've not felt the lowrider amistad. I had the expert, broke it, and traded up to the cara with the replacement. I've felt the Bucoo SR in the store. I'm not much of a carolina rig guy or a jig dragger so I can't say for sure, but I know lots of guys use it for that and I've done it a couple times. In the lineup of rods that I have, its probably the best one for it. When I say light texas rig stuff, I was fishing the SJ with a 1/8 plus a boarhogz which will come in around 5/16 total weight as the lightest I've thrown on it. A weightless 5" senko is about 3/8 oz and there would be no problems with that. A 4" fluke might be a little light. If you are doing that on a baitcaster a bunch then the finesse jig is probably the right rod, maybe the weightless worm (which I've not fished). I've thrown them on the 6'8" MH Cara and it works, but you're just barely loading the tip. The FJ is a lighter tip than the MH and can go down pretty low weight with light line and a good reel (with a shallower light spool).

I've not fished it, only researched it from our trips down there so that that FWIW. I think you need to get further up towards northwest river to get away from the salt. The sound up by Corolla is still pretty brackish. If you're living in Corolla, then that's going to be a bit of a trek though either by car or by paddle. Like JHoss, I'd say focus on the smaller areas and pick them over. Find some deeper water near the shallow water and then play the tides. They fish will push up shallower when the tide comes up and then pull back to the deeper slots and wait for baitfish when the tide is pulling out. There isn't a huge depth swing on the sound, but there is enough.

fairly often now. You can set an alert on their website if you create an account. And I know its a little more money, but if you're going to spend $230 for a JDM bantam you might as well throw in the extra $30 and get the Met. For what you're describing, you don't need the extra weight or brass gears from the bantam and the Met is a fantastic reel.

I've had autopilot on my kayak for the past 4 years (effectively a powerdrive riptide shortened for the kayak) and also fished my dad's boat which is a basic cable steer no frills trolling motor on a 16' tracker. I just bought a boat (it's getting rigged right now) and went ultrex (almost went terrova, details below). For me, spot lock is great if you're fishing off shore. Its also really nice when landing a fish. When you hook up, hit the lock and don't worry about being blown off your spot or being pulled into the cover (more an issue with a kayak than a big boat). Also nice when rerigging for the same reasons. If you fish 5' most of the time and have poles, then this will be less useful, but if you're deeper than that often or don't have poles then spot lock is great. Even more used for me on the kayak was navigation. Set a direction and a speed then mostly forget about it. When you're going down the bank casting, you can set the speed for 1/2 mph and the direction so you're a cast length away from the bank. No fiddling with you controlling the boat unless you want to. This is super useful in variable wind conditions. Put the nose into the wind and tell it to maintain 1/2 mph despite the wind changing from 5 mph to 20 mph gusts. I've not linked the motor in the past because the autopilot doesn't allow for it. The new ultrex will, and I can see the contour following as being useful in a couple of my lakes. I'll give it a try. Navigate to waypoint will be a good one for me. I'll mark waypoints on side imaging and then come back to them with live imaging. I would use side by side maps and live imaging to manually motor back to the waypoint and then spotlock. In this case, I can shut down the gas motor well out and have the trolling motor navigate to waypoint. Not a critical feature, but I can see myself using it.

Just depends on what you want to do and what you throw. While they might be similar in specs, the Amistad and HCJ are very different rods. First, the Amistad is a full power heavier and noticably so. The power is much higher in the rod. Both are heavy and fast, but the amistad is heavier and faster. For what you described (1/4-3/8 plus plastic) the HCJ is a great rod. I wouldn't use it to throw into heavier cover like laydowns and pads, but for fishing the edges of that or into milfoil and similar grasses its right on the money. The Amistad is what throws into those things. I would also say that the Amistad starts at 3/8 plus plastic for me, though a quarter works also depending on the plastic and the line you're using (I've found braid needs a little more weight while mono doesn't). I love the swim jig rod for swim jigs and lighter texas rigs. The head turner is a great rod for lots of things. A new to me (and the lineup generally) that I think I'm going to love this year is the big bait rod (7'9" 1-5 oz). I picked it up for 6-8" magdrafts and 5-7" hard swimbaits. It flings a 6" magdraft into tomorrow in the yard so its going to do what I want there, but I think it would be another option for throw a half ounce plus plastic into some slop (like I do with the amistad). I'll do a better review in the falcon rods thread after I've fished it a bit. If you could only buy three rods (and multiples of those rods) to outfit an entire boat, the swim jig, head turner, and amistad wouldn't be a bad set. If you wanted to hit the highlights of the falcon lineup you'd be there. If there is something you do or fish that is more specific, then there are some cool rods in the lineup like the finesse jig (finesse jigs and lighter topwaters), eye crosser (frogs and 3/4 oz bladed baits), and the deep runner (6-14' crankbaits).

a bantam. If you were planning on buying usdm for the curado then get the jdm bantam and be done with it.

we're getting all of that as wind and rain today. 15-20 MPH constant with gusts over 35. Supposed to get an inch plus of rain today in the next 8 hours. The ponds are half thawed and this should break up the ice pretty well (its 57 degrees). Then sunny wind for the next week plus and 65 degree highs coming up. I fished today for the first time since Sep/Oct of last year and it was the first day in the woods or water in nearly 8 weeks now. The cabin fever was real.

I didn’t put a guess on this thread when I’d get my first this year because who knows with ice. It’s been as early as late Feb and as late as the end of march over the past 4 springs. Well this year it’s march 4th. I had about 3 hours I could use and the rain was going to hold off just long enough so I didn’t get soaked. Well I was wrong about getting soaked but I managed to pick my first tiny bass of the year dragging a finesse bait across the bottom of a tiny, half iced pond. @Swamp Girli always think of you and your bogs when I walk through this place. The visuals are where the similarities end though because this set of ponds is highly pressured, have no big fish in them, and are otherwise not worth fishing except for a quick shakedown run early in the season. By yourself it’s nice to be there and see the birds and beavers. Once the weather warms anymore you’ll never be there by yourself.

Get a spool of 10# big game and a spool of 14/15# big game. Use the first for backing and the second in your spinnerbait rod.

I've been doing a lot of boat searches lately myself so have a feel for the market (at least up here). At that price point, you are going to be looking at early to mid 90's boats and individual condition will be more important that the brand and model. You don't say glass or aluminum specifically, though do reference two glass boats. Not sure where you're located but if you're in the south east or Texas you might have a better selection to choose from. Up here, $5k will get you a stripped out 1990 ranger with torn seats, limited carpet, and a 150-175 2-stroke. The trolling motor may or may not work and don't look for any electronics. If you go aluminum, then you can get into a late 90's or early 2000's tracker with a 40-60hp and half decent shape.

I very rarely get hung up to the point where I can't get it out by moving the boat over to it. But if I do I'll wrap the line around the handle of my pliers which are always just an arms length away and pull till it pops. If I'm fishing braid that's usually a straightened hook or a broken tree branch. Mono always breaks at the knot. I agree that cutting and leaving a long line is awful. More than a few times I've gotten hung up on some 50# braid that someone cut 30' from the snag and that wrapped up in more branches further down the bank. I always go in and cut it out as best I can. Don't do that. It's hard on the internals of the reel, even if you are thumbing the spool. I think DVT has posted about that here before and it's made me change my ways as I used to do that too.

like choproz said, the rod and line have to work in tandem and there needs to be a little give somewhere for moving baits. You're right that with braid you can feel every little bump and nick (try it with a red eye shad sometime!) but the rod has to have enough flex. For that reason, I don't prefer braid with chatterbaits and spinnerbaits. I have one rod where it might be a good combo (I've fished heavy fluoro with limited stretch on it with CBs before) but that's not my preference for type of rod to fish those baits. I prefer a faster action rod which means a stretchier line.

The NJ LM record is 10-14. I'm not saying it isn't going to happen, but that's a pretty big fish for the short growing season, relatively infertile waters, and abundance of fishing pressure. If its broken, it will be from one of the lakes that is stocked with trout or has a major trout stream coming into it. The smallie record is 7-02. I think that one is ripe for breaking. There are a few 6+ caught every year in the state and while an extra pound is a lot, I think it's possible. There are a few smallie lakes that have good populations of baitfish and one or two of them have relatively low fishing pressure. I know where I'd predict it to be broken, and if it happens in the next 3 years (likely spring 26 or 27) then you heard it here first.

it depends on how you fish as to which of those are going to be better choice for you. The decision of motor vs no motor is the first one. A lot of guys love their pedal drives. And with the old town style pedal you have instant hands free reverse for holding position. You never have to worry about the batteries dying either. That said, a motor is just a lot easier if you don't mind dealing with the added complexity of a motor and battery setup. Since you're going to trailer anyway, leaving the motor and battery hooked up will be fine. Then which motor depends on your style of fishing. A bixby or torqueedo will give you a bit more speed and range, but a bow mount (or autopilot) will give you spot lock. For me, I've found that spotlock (and navigation!) are incredibly useful in a kayak. Having used an autopilot for 4 years now I wouldn't be able to fish out of a kayak that doesn't have it. I stand to fish so using the remote to motor around while I'm standing fishing is great. Set a navigation heading/speed and just go down the bank making casts. Hook a fish? Hit the spotlock button and don't get pulled into the cover by the fish. Want to pick apart a patch of pads or a dock? Spotlock on one side of it, fish it, jog 10' to the other side of it and repeat. It's a shame you're not closer. I'm selling my autopilot currently and it would be a great upgrade for you.

For me, it's lake and time of year dependent. Grass is a big factor. In your bogs, FFS would be pretty useless because of all of the vegetation and lack of depth. I have a lot of lakes like that here. The bass are up in the vegetation and FFS doesn't penetrate vegetation (maybe the next FFS should be x-ray waves...). I can tell you that on my 'home lake', the grass grows from about 12-15' deep to the surface. The thermocline sets up at 15' in the summer. So either the bass will be in the weeds, or they would have to be travelling open water in 0-15' over 30' of water (the lake is largely a big bowl that bottoms out around 30'). I can tell you that they don't do the latter on that lake as I've looked. This lake also has a lot of muskies, so I'm pretty confident that the bass are staying in the vegetation. In that scenario, FFS is pretty useless outside of seeing the weedline (which you can see pretty well anyway with the 5'+ water clarity). In a lot of the videos you'll see, the guys are using FFS to chase bait and find the fish that are eating that bait. While fish are eating bait year round, that's largely a winter/spring/prespawn deal in a lot of places. Wintertime bass are following or ambushing bait and they continue that pattern until they get the push to spawn. Look at the tournaments on Lake fork and Toledo bend in Feb the past couple years and that's the same pattern. I imagine on the highland reservoirs that don't have grass you could do this year round. If there is grass then its harder. FFS also lends itself to some techniques better than others. If you're offshore then it helps. If you're going down the bank casting to targets and cover it's less useful. It's not great in <5' of water. You can put it in perspective mode and use it kinda like a 360 imaging, but that's not what you're seeing on youtube videos. If you want an example of that, scott martin on okeechobee last year. He used perspective mode to find big spawners.

I’m less worried about trebles. Typically everything that I fish with treble hooks has a snap and I only put the lures on when I am in the boat. It’s more ease and weight plus keeping guides and lines separate.

What about the neoprene is so great? Any idea how thick the material is? In my head I am picturing wet suit neoprene which I know isn’t right but that’s a mental anchor.

yeah, I do that anyway. It’s helps a bunch but I can see having a dozen rods in a rod locker bouncing around as an issue. It also doesn’t work well with braid which a couple rods will have.

Thanks gents. I’m leaning mesh. That was my initial thought and all of your comments are keeping me there. Some great points and comparisons across the different ones.

I think most here would agree with you. Hot dry carpet and a flopping fish isn’t great and why mlf (who promote conservation with cwr) have the penalty. I think if you have a look through pictures here on this forum you’ll see a lot better handling that that.

I also fish braid for frogs and some other specialist stuff. Not sure why I started fishing swim jigs on braid. I think I was watching Jason Christie fish swim jigs on this same rod and it just stuck. I fished them with mono previously to good effect and will still if I put one on my head turner since that’s a mono rod. But if I think swim jigs are going to be a thing then it goes on my swim jig rod with braid. It just feels right. I’ll also use that setup as a lighter Texas rig rod (1/8 plus a light plastic).

yeah that would be way too soft for a jig rod. It’s even soft as a crankbait rod for me. The expert finesse jig is what you want. The Cara swim jig would also be a good choice.